What About Affirmations?
Someone asked me what I thought of affirmations. Thank you for the feedback.
If you don’t know already, an affirmation is something you write out to help you visualize a new future, so that you can dream that future into existence. An example would be something like this, “I, Joseph Schoolland, will grow my cash flow to $1 million per year.” Then I would repeat that phrase 15 times a day in order to help me believe that it’s actually possible.
Affirmations make some people nervous because it feels like we’re just using a magical incantation to—fingers crossed—give us all the things we’ve ever hoped for.
We are made in God's image and we are called to create. When God created, He used words. Those words made stuff, when no stuff was there. He created ex nihilo, or out of nothing.
We also create using words, but we use words to turn His stuff into other stuff. A car is made out of stuff that God made. Someone used words/plans/blueprints/ideas to rearrange that stuff into a car. And I’d much rather have a car in my driveway than a disorganized pile of car components.
Usually, when we create, we don't dream big enough. Ephesians 3:20 implies we couldn't dream big enough even if we tried, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think...” Whatever you could ask or think, God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above that.
But affirmations are not a magical incantation. God is sovereign. He makes stuff work or not work. God is sovereign and we are responsible. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility aren't side-by-side and they don't clash with each other. One rests on the other. God's sovereignty would exist whether man did or not, but man's responsibility wouldn't exist without God's sovereignty.
Affirmations are also not an alternative to prayer. Jesus forbids this, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7 NKJV).
Prayer is wrestling with God. It's pressing pause on your story to discuss with the Storyteller how you'd like your story to go. Pray without ceasing. Pray for the most ordinary (finding a parking spot, enjoying a cup of coffee) and the extraordinary (healing from cancer, enjoying a yacht).
Bringing all this together, the bigger you dream the more you see opportunity. If you can't imagine making $1 million in a year or planting twenty churches in your town, then it won't happen.
You don't necessarily need to know how your dreams might happen. Imagining what they could look like enables you to recognize the opportunities you’ll need to make them happen. Just like buying a Tundra makes me recognize how many other Tundras are driving around that I didn't see before.
Using things like affirmations, writing, conversation, stepping outside your comfort zone, learning new things, etc., to expand your imagination are great. They are like burpees for your imagination muscles. But that is all they are. And the stronger your imagination, the more opportunities you’ll see and be able to take advantage of.
What do you think?
Joseph